Is Cold Calling Really Dead?

Friday, April 9, 2010 Posted by John Tabita

In case you didn’t get the memo, it appears that cold calling is offically “dead” – at least according to one expert. In an article entitled No, You Don’t Have to Cold Call – Ever, sales consultant Paul McCord had this to say about cold calling:


In my opinion, there is hardly a more worthless use of time and energy than cold calling.

Cold calling is time consuming for the salesperson and it immediately signifies to the recipient of the call that the person making the call isn’t an expert in their field because most prospects assume that true experts aren’t sitting at a desk pounding the phone.

Really, Paul?

He goes on to suggest that, while cold calling may generate some business, it's not the most effective way to find prospects.

There’s just one problem with his statement: My department generated nearly half-million dollars in revenue last year... strictly by cold calling.

In one particularly good (pre-recession) month, here’s how 3 appointment setters did:

  • Decision-makers spoken to: 230
  • Appointments set: 86
  • Appointments sold: 27, resulting in $43,000 in revenue

That means we set 1 appointment for every 2.7 decision-makers we spoke with, and our sales team closed 31% of those appointments.

Admittedly, that was an above-average month. But on average, my best telemarketer sets 1 appointment for every 33 dials, and he sets over 60 appointments a month. Pretty good results from something that’s such a “worthless use of time and energy,” wouldn’t you say?
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